Satyricon is a Norwegian black metal band formed in Oslo in 1991. Satyr and Frost have been the band's core members since 1993. The band's first three albums typify the Norwegian black metal style. Since its fourth album in 1999, the band has strayed from this style and included elements of traditional heavy metal in their sound. Satyricon was the first Norwegian black metal band to join a multi-national record label (EMI).

The band's first album, 1993's Dark Medieval Times (recorded in 1993), showed off the fascination Satyricon had with the Middle Ages and featured raw black metal blast beats produced by Frost, mixed with acoustic guitar and flute. On their next album, The Shadowthrone, this medieval spirit was continued. Rock Hard journalist Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann wrote that Satyricon reached their "very early zenith" with that album and Nemesis Divina.

Describing their fifth studio album, 2002's Volcano, frontman Satyr stated in a press release and biography on their homepage that "the music is rock based but more extreme; it is black metal pushing the boundaries that began with bands like Venom and Bathory. Reinventing ourselves based on a foundation of rock-oriented black metal is our philosophy." Mühlmann wrote that Satyricon's path after their zenith was reached with their second and third album has only a limited connection to black metal, whereas Metal Hammer journalist Robert Müller described Satyr as a "latently arrogant guy who, along the way, makes great music that constantly tests the borders of the genre".